TheWashCycle

Wednesday Afternoon Commute - "More people in the neighborhood is better for me"

Good afternoon

• Bicycle Friendly States rankings came out today. Maryland was 11th and Virginia was 16th.
• "On any given day, you can find about 700 of the bikes scattered like toys across Google’s Mountain View campus. All morning long, Google’s private shuttle buses drop off employees in front of clumps of bikes. The Googlers mount up and ride to work. Jimenez and Mac are part of a seven-person army that keeps them up-and-running, seven days a week."
• "The cyclist’s best chance at protecting his personal fortune likely rests in convincing a jury the government has already earned plenty from him."
• More citibike handwringing, even from a bike shop owner “They really take up a lot of space on the city streets … It’s so congested, with bus stops and bike lanes,” Scarfelli says.
• Streetsblog is raising money and giving away a bike. 

Tuesday Afternoon Commute - Free High Fives

Good afternoon

• Support a trail connection between Carlin Springs Road and the W&OD Trail. 
• WABA is awarded an REI/Bikes Belong grant.
• A well-reasoned argument in support of expanding CaBi in Alexandria versus the one woman who opposes it. 
• I hate it when this happens.
• DC has installed 18 of the planned 54 CaBi expansion stations. 
• The new Bike to Work Day T-shirt. And Bike Month starts tomorrow.
• The Landmark Mall redevelopment in Alexandria isn't as friendly to cyclists and pedestrians as some might want. With Holmes Run Trail just north of the property, they're missing a real opportunity by not building a connection to it. A connection from the Trail alont Shirley Highway and the ramp to Walker street (with a small path to a bike parking facility at the Mall) seems like a no brainer. 
• Sigh..."The American Association of Neurological Surgeons reports that more sports-related head injuries in 2009 occurred on bicycles than on football, baseball, and softball fields combined." Which would be relevant if I knew how much time people spent on the activities. There are probably more gun deaths related to hunting accidents than to gunslinger elimination tournaments, but that doesn't tell me much about which is safer.  
• "A volunteer who often pedals more than 30 miles a day assisting hikers along a popular southwest Virginia trail is being recognized by the U.S. Forest Service."
• London's low-line.

Big Stinky

Climb Ev'ry Mountain by M.V. Jantzen

A participant in the Big Stinky Hill Climb. Bates Rd NE, Washington, DC.

Wednesday Afternoon Commute - Auntie Emm

Good afternoon

• Restoration of Memorial Bridge could result in it being closed for 40-100 days. But not for a few years. I doubt any major improvements would be included for cyclists, but what would you change?
• New CaBi stations at S. Arlington Mill Dr & Campbell Ave and S. Kenmore & 24th St S. And then...US Navy Capital Bikeshare? Ironically, you can't ride a bike where it is parked. 
• May is Bike Month.
• Maryland and DC guide to the East Coast Greenway - and Baltimore's trails are marked.
• "Using a helmet to protect your head in a tornado is a NO BRAINER!"

Monday Afternoon Commute - Mid City East

Good afternoon. Hope your morning went better than mine. My rear derailleur got caught in my spokes and ripped right off the frame. Whole thing is mangled and I had to ride on my bike like it was a scooter the rest of the way. Taking the bus home. 

• DDOT and the Office of Planning will be kicking off the Mid-City East Small Area Plan and Liveability Study with an open house later this month. Mid City East consists of the communities of LeDroit Park, Bloomingdale, Eckington, Truxton Circle, Bates-Hanover and Sursum Corda. Good opportunity to start the push for bike facilities and planning. 
• Eisenhower Avenue Widening. 
• Bowie Heritage Trail:

A major milestone has been reached, as Governor O'Malley has announced the City 
was awarded a State matching grant of $574,747 for construction of Phase 1 of The 
Bowie Heritage Trail in Old Town Bowie. The grant will help the City construct the 
main corridor of the planned Heritage Trail system; the project includes approximately 
1,900 linear feet of 10-foot wide hiker-biker trail between Zug Road and 10th Street. 
The trail segment abuts the Railroad Museum, and construction will include a train 
watching platform, a pedestrian underpass of the MD 564 bridge, and development of a 
new park on the vacant land and cul-de-sac of 10th Street located near the bridge. The 
design plans for Phase 1 are already 30% engineered. We are hopeful that the work on 
this anchor segment will invigorate the design and completion of many other related 
improvements in the planned Bowie Heritage Trail system. The grant application was 
approved under the State's Transportation Enhancement Program, which was recently 
renamed the Transportation Alternatives Program. City matching funds are included in 
the proposed FY 2014-2019 Capital Improvements Program.

• The city of Frederick has begun installing 25 bike racks along its Market Street corridor. Members of the nonprofit Downtown Frederick Partnership and others donated the racks. The organization's executive director Kara Norman says in the past most riders used trees to secure their bicycles, but that's not good for the trees.
• If you work for a city (either as staff or as a consultant) on innovative bike designs, please answer this 16 question survey about the state of current design guidance. Responses are confidential and should be received by April 20.

Sunday Video: One Answer in Gridlock

Reston Impact March 2013 from Comcast Channel 28 on Vimeo.

Monday Morning Commute - Better know a bicycle

The question "Is this recyclable?" must be one of the most asked questions in America.

• Greg Billings of WABA sits down for a 3-minute interview. 
• Stephen Colbert was spotted Friday riding a bike in the Longworth Building with Rep. Matt Cartwright, D-Pa.
• What can DC do to make cycling better?
• DC is installing HAWK signals.
• Biking is part of this complete commute.  
• Underground bike parking at the Mall. 
• Another reason to oppose bicycle registration - it leads to communism. 
• Streetsblog: "Two Oregon researchers observed people’s behavior and eye movements as they operated a driving simulator to see if they noticed pedestrians. David Hurwitz from Oregon State University and Christopher Monsere from Portland State University found that danger increased with more cars and fewer people walking. There is safety in numbers: The more pedestrians there are, the more drivers pay attention. But if there are more cars, they take up more of the drivers’ attention."
• Guerrilla flex post installations. 

Sunday Video: Driving Fast and Riding Slow

Assembly meeting tonight

The advocacy group, The Assembly, is meeting tonight

After the first gathering in November, we held off on organizing any meetings of The Assembly with the intent of kicking things off strong in the spring.  Now, we are happy to announce our next meeting of The Assembly will take place on Wednesday, April 3rd at 7:30 pm. 

We will meet as before in a theater space located above the shop.   Please come ready to take action and help us improve DC!

Organized in the format of your favorite late night talk shows, we get down to the bottom of issues facing cyclists in the city.  This info-tainment event will educate and inform you on key things going on and should be plenty of fun. We have invited a special guest speaker, Ellen Jones, the Chair of the Bicycle Advisory Council, to offer her insight.  And, you will have the chance to speak out about what frustrates and inspires you.  Finally, we'll ask you to pitch in to plan our next direct action, the Big Stinky Hill Climb Challenge!

Cycle track Ambassadors

L St Cycle Track by thisisbossi